


Redemption

by Inanis_Spera



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-22
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2017-12-06 02:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/730428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inanis_Spera/pseuds/Inanis_Spera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Redemption is not a change of mind, but a change of heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Kyouko picked herself off the ground once more. Like she always had.  
  
Her legs refused to cooperate and barely staggered back to her feet. She clutched her side. Kyouko hadn't remembered the slash that opened her, but it was still there. Her hand was soaked instantly. Hard to see. Madoka wasn't moving.  
  
"I know you can hear me." She bobbled from one foot to the next. No answer.  
  
“You're worrying everyone.” Sayaka continued to ignore her.  
  
“You're not like this.” It was so hard to speak. So hard to see. A blue and gray haze before her.  
  
"You wanted to help people. To be a hero." Sayaka turned her back to Kyouko. The red-head tried to summon the passion, the torch she once bore.  
  
Nothing. Her leg felt wet. She wobbled closer. She could make anyone listen to her once. Sayaka had ignored before and now she wasn't any less stubborn. Kyouko's head swam. Too much effort to stay upright.  
  
Her fingers hurt, everything hurt. Tears fell from the agony. Sayaka couldn't abandon all that she was. Not she had. Had to make her listen. Bring her back. Somehow.

 

“You believed. You were right.” She drifted away. _Listen to me, listen to me._

 

“Please, Sayaka. Come back.” Sayaka paid no attention to her and conducted her orchestra. Kyouko couldn't yell over the noise it made. Kyouko hated it.  
  
"Your music sucks too." She was sweating heavily and her lungs didn't work the way they should have. A cough, blood spewed from her mouth and ran down her throat. Her hands trembled.  
  
"Is that why Kyouske didn't like you?" Pain everywhere. Copper in her mouth. Stagger, stagger.  
  
"Answer me." A thin pane of glass in a typhoon.  
  
"I'll steal him if you don't answer me." _Why is my boot going squish?_ She stopped, her body unable to move any farther. Agony lancing out from her ribs. Kyouko couldn't breathe. Her sight went dark for a second. Her jaw shook. The wave of pain passed after a moment.   
  
"Hey, how do you do that no pain trick?" Sayaka would tell her. They were sort-of friends.  
  
Still nothing.  
  
"I know you're listening and its rude to ignore people." _It hurts. It hurts._  
  
Nothing.  
  
"Answer me." She hefted her spear to throw." Answer-" Someone slammed into her, knocking her to the floor. A whirl of amethyst and white. Kyouko's stomach reeled. A miracle it remained where it was. The gaping wound in her side ripped open and bled heavily. Her back was drenched. The barrier swirled and colors blended. Kyouko knew she wasn't dead. She wasn't on fire. 

 

Her muscles failing her head lolled to the side to purple and white blur that slammed into her. It was a fight to see anything. Kyouko's eyes focused just long enough to see the object in Homura's hand. A thin white tube with a red button on the end.  
  
 _No._ Her hands lanced out. Pain a distant nightmare. _Nononono not her! She believed, she was true._ A million miles away and Homura just inches. _Please not her. Punish me! I ran! I left people to die._ A thousand miles, maybe half an inch. _Please God not her, please God I'm sorry._ Contact.  
  
In the beginning God's light had brought life and hope to the universe. Homura's took it away.  
  


* * *

  
  
Kyouko lie on the ground. Failure her only company. She heard Madoka stir. Too late for anything. Steps getting closer. She clamped her eyes shut. Nothing for her to see. Nothing she wanted to see.

 

Click.  
  
"There was nothing you could do." The sky is blue. Kyouko's eyes opened of their own accord. A joke, a nightmare, a horror.

 

Reality. 

 

"Walpurgisnacht is coming" Water is wet. 

 

"We have to be ready." Soon you will be her.   
  
Kyouko looked away. She didn't want it to be true. Good deeds were rewarded. Bad people were punished. It wasn't supposed to be this way. She should have died. Sayaka should still be alive. Kyouko could fix half of it. She could take her soul gem and squeeze just hard enough. Tears. The coward in her wanted to take Sayaka and leave. Hurt her like so many other girls just for another day of existence. Take her soulgem and place it next to the Seed. Pass her darkness away and pretend.  
  
Click.  
  
 _Coward._  


* * *

Kyouko struggled to walk. Without Madoka she would never have gotten up. She had to lean heavily on the smaller girl just to limp along. Her body broken and her mind walking in dark places.  
  
 _It should have been me. Sayaka is the hero. She wanted to save people, she believed. She was just. It should have been me. I let people die. I didn't care about anyone. I left everything I was behind. She should have lived._

  
"Are you okay?" Madoka interrupted. Kyouko wobbled her head toward her. Madoka would never leave anyone in trouble, but the thought of pushing her away and running was clear in her eyes. Kyouko inhaled in agony.  
  
"I'm fine" she couldn't be like this, "I'm fine." Sayaka had been the hero was she had once was. "I'm fine." A hero she could still be.

 

If she tried.

  
Kyouko's life dripping away, the two staggered to the red-head's hotel room. Kyouko kept them away from eyes human and electronic. She didn't want Madoka to get caught up in this. The elevator almost dropped her. The surge buckled her knees and only a quick grab by Madoka kept the dying Puella Magi from the ground. Kyouko whispered a thank-you, but only blood escaped her lips. Her life described in minutes and seconds.

 

Kyouko closed her eyes, blind and nearly helpless. Instinct drug her to the room she lay Sayaka down. All strength had nearly fled. Madoka struggled to kept the bleeding girl on her feet. She too, had a friend to say good-bye to. Kyouko's bleeding slowly, there wasn't much left to lose. They reached the door. Kyouko pulled her key out and failed to get the lock to open. Madoka gently pushed her hand away and unlatched the door.

  
Her body failed her. Kyouko fell the last few steps to Sayaka. Her body was untouched. The crusader's soul in her pocket. A hope flared and died. Her soul, even as a grief seed, should be enough to bring her back. A fevered dream drowned in the black ocean of reality. Her body had been there when she'd fallen. Beyond all hope.

 

No-one had any hope.   
  
Kyouko propped herself up. Her father had known the last rites. He wasn't here either. She wasn't ready to say goodbye. Her dreams, her crusade meant something. It couldn't be laid to rest in the ground. Where it's only company would be worms.  
  
An impulse. Kyouko dropped her soul gem on Sayaka's stomach, near where the fallen knight had kept hers.  
  
Nothing.  
  
 _Of course._ The light faded. _Why would it work?_ It was hard to stay upright. _Nothing I do ever goes right._ She felt herself falling. _Why God, why?_ She closed her eyes forever.  
  
And Kyouko opened Sayaka's eyes. 

 


	2. Two

"Tell-tell me everything about her" Kyouko asked. She could see Madoka's confusion and pain in the younger girl's eyes. Madoka had lost her oldest friend, watched Kyouko bleed to death and then get her friend back, in form only.  
  
"Sayaka, she is-is a good friend and-and," the words were too much for the suffering girl. All her life she'd known Sayaka. Madoka had watched Kyouko carry Sayaka's lifeless body to her. Now were witnessed Kyouko take the corpse for her own. It was just too much for her.  
  
Kyouko didn't know what to say. This was hurting the poor girl. She hadn't meant to cause her pain. She'd hurt enough people. She wanted to help and she'd failed all her life.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I-I just wanted," Kyouko tried to find the purpose she had once a long time ago. It was alien to her. A strange thing, to have lost everything. Even herself. It was a short time before she spoke again "I should have died. She fought for people, believed in something more."

 

Once she always knew what to say.

 

It had been a long time. "I'm sorry."  
  
Madoka struggled telling Kyouko all about Sayaka, the friend that the red-head would be spending all her life imitating. They reached Sayaka's home, to complete the cover-up of the young girl's death. It had been days since the wayward knight had run away. Her family destroyed itself with guilt. Madoka rang the bell. A race to the door, hope against all odds, to see their daughter again. A terror that that it was a sad policeman. The threshold tore open.  
  
Hope.

 

Elation.

 

Joy.

 

Happiness  
  
"SAYAKA!" They tackled the pretender, a mass of words crushed them close. Kyouko apologized, trying to be the daughter they thought she was. To try and make them believe the lie.

 

 

* * *

  
  
  
Kyoko stood awkwardly next to Hitomi. School wouldn't wait and Sayaka had missed some days already. It meant pressing her imitation of the fallen girl farther than Kyouko was comfortable with. Being alone with the fallen girl's family pressed her bad enough. They were too happy to notice what was wrong with their daughter. Long enough and they wouldn't question. It wasn't like her mother and father would think that someone replaced her.

 

Hitomi might. How much did she know? She thought someone mentioned Hitomi being Kissed. Did they tell her why? Was she still oblivious? Was she wondering why someone she thought was dead was standing next to her? Uncertainty ran circles in her head. What seemed like the perfect thing to do in the bleeding night looked so horrible in the cutting day.

 

Madoka could at least quietly point out what she should be doing. Sayaka and the green haired girl were apparently long-time friends and Kyoko had only the thinnest idea how they acted to each other. Were they close? Did they share secrets? Were they friendly, distant, or joking? Kyouko didn't think she could make Hitomi believe her act just yet. She didn't want to risk it. Her only save was that they been fighting over a boy and things should be weird between the two. If she did something wrong it helped. The two stood there.  
  
Gentle Hitomi waited for Sayaka to say that everything was okay. That they were still friends. Kyoko stood away, not knowing. Madoka saved them both. Her fake smile detectable by no one, she walked to her friends pretending the world was okay. Knowing full well it never would be again. Madoka greeted her friends and Kyoko did he best to not be herself. They walked together. A peace overseen by the shredded nerves of the eternally caring Madoka. They arrived, a few words mended between them. Kyoko took the seat Madoka quietly pointed to her. Homura gave a small glance at 'Sayaka' and nothing more.  


* * *

  
  
The day mercifully folded to an end. Madoka walked Kyouko through Sayaka's routines. The friendship between Hitomi and the pretend Sayaka was repaired. Kyouko didn't know the boy. It was easy to let go. It was a weight tossed away from their minds. Kyouko was frrer to act and Hitomi opened up to her 'friend'. With the conflict ended it the world turned again. The three joked and laughed like they always had. Almost. Hitomi never knew. It was the same as forever and ever. Time dwindled on. They had to go their separate way. Madoka followed Kyouko. The price for Sayaka's misbehavior. It bothered neither. It gave them time to talk. To learn and plan. AS they approached Homura's apartment Kyouko saw a newspaper stand. She grabbed a paper. Morbidly curious she went to the obituary section. Her old body had been found.  
  
  
They stopped briefly, Kyoko stood on her own grave. Her body laid to rest next to her family. Her father had been almost right about her. She a witch in progress. Delayed for a time. Maybe she'd die. Sayaka could have made it if not for that boy. A lot of things might have. She came to pay her last respects. To her family, to her old life. She was Sayaka now. She still had no idea what to say. The last time she was here she cursed his name and resolved to live only for herself. Now, here she was. A new, borrowed, stolen, life. To live in a dead girl's body and fight as she had once fought. Maybe stupid, maybe all she could do.  
  
Kyoko stood for too long. Trying to find the words. In the end she found some. Even if they didn't make her feel okay.  
  
"Goodbye."  
  


* * *

  
  
  
"Would you rather be called Kyoko or Sayaka?"  
  
"I'm Sayaka, Kyoko died remember? Buried her and all."  
  
"Yes...Sayaka. Well... Sayaka you've never liked ice lollypops or threw the wrappers on my floor in the past."  
  
'Sayaka' shrugged and kept eating. Homura didn't bother going on about how this would end for the now blue-haired girl. She had more important things to do.  
  
"Walpurgisnatch will come in from this part of the city..."  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Turn blue.  
  
Kyoko stared at her vest, willing it to change colors. After ten minutes it remained red. Her spear was something she'd deal with another day. At least she could pretend that she needed the spear more as she knew the weapon better. Her clothes, however.  
  
No one would know what she was supposed to look like, but it meant a lot to her. Sayaka and her ideals would live on. Though it was looking like her clothes wouldn't. She set the image in her mind. The way she looked. How the cape moved, the colors and the way they caught the light. She pictured it clearly. She was wearing it. She wearing it. She was wearing it. Kyouko opened her eyes.  
  
No she wasn't.  
  
A sigh. _I've wasted too much damn time. I need to be a hero now._  
  
She vowed to have everything ready for Walpurgisnatch.  
  



	3. 3

"Sayaka!"

  
  


"Hitomi"

  
  


The hardest part wasn't accepting being called a different name. Or being taller. It was not having long hair anymore. She kept reaching back just to check and make sure it was still there. It was starting to get noticed. It was an effort to keep her hands at her sides.

  
  


"How has your day been?" Hitomi asked every day. It was her way of feeling out Sayaka's feelings. A little late for the fallen knight. 

  
  


“Math is killing me. Make it stop.” Hitomi smiled. She was still nervous about talking with ‘Sayaka’. She didn’t want to ruin their friendship. Kyouko kept the illusion that Sayaka was still with her. It was getting easier. Sometimes there was a shade of a thought that helped. Like someone was whispering in her ear the right words to say. It was welcome and alien thing. A loose rock she could never quite depend on. 

 

Too quickly Kyouko managed to slide into the space that had been Sayaka’s life. The once puella magi’s sense of humor had taken some getting used to. A vulgar almost silly way of making jokes. As if she really didn't know what the words meant. Innocent really. 

 

If she could keep her hands from checking her hair out might work better Kyouko thought as she pushed her arms away from her head again.

  
  


* * *

  
  


School ended and this time it came with report cards. Kyouko walked along a path. It felt right. She didn't know why. Something unheard. Kyouko looked around, nothing. She went back to her card while Madoka caught up to her. Sayaka's oldest friend was the only one who could tell her how she was doing. Right now it meant more to her than the sad marks on her card.

  
  


"How am I doing?" Her imitation of Sayaka was getting better, she still got weird looks at times. It was a moment before Madoka answered.

  
  


"You're doing okay." Kyouko knew this was twisting the knife. Another mocking reminder that her friend really wasn't here anymore. There was no other way. Maybe one day Kyouko would be gone and only Sayaka would remain.

  
  


One day.

  
  


"Getting there. I'm gonna be in trouble anyway," Kyouko said looking at her card, "no way am I not being punished for this." Madoka looked over.

  
  


"That's better than Sayaka actually." The pretender flinched.  _ Ow _ .

  
  


"Has Homura said anything?" Walpurgisnatch drew near. A darkness to test the knight.

 

"No," Madoka pursed her lips briefly. For being a store cold crazy bitch Homura seemed afraid of Madoka. Odd.

  
  


"Well there's still time. Plenty of time."

  
  


There never would be.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Ten

  
  


Kyouko raced along the building walls. She could feel the witch as it advanced. Homura had spoken of Walpurgisnatch, it hasn't sunk in until now. A parade of familiars matched down the street. They paid her no mind. She had never seen so many. If they attacked her she wasn't sure if she could win.

  
  


Nine

  
  


A glimpse through the skyscrapers. It was huge. A quiet in her heart. She fought witches before no-one this strong, none that didn't need a barrier.

  
  


Eight

  
  


Kyouko saw Homura near a bridge. That was the plan. Kyouko would attack it close while Homura attacked from a distance.

  
  


Seven

  
  


She could this. Knights fought up close. Sayaka would do just this. She was ready. Kyouko hefted her spear and launched herself.

  
  


Six

  
  


She didn't make it. A circus of familiars danced at her. A slash and parry. Two fell away. Three more surged forward. Something hit her arm.

  
  


Five

  
  


She dropped and lashed out behind her. She hit something. They were everywhere. Kyouko

launched herself to the street. They followed. 

  
  


Four.

  
  


Alleyways flew by. Kyouko spun her partizan and more fell. She darted through the gaps and skewed a familiar. More lunged for her.

  
  


Three.

  
  


She raced up the side of the building. A sweep behind her cleared more. Still they came.

  
  


Two.

  
  


She danced through the ranks, twirling her spear. The familiars struck only air. Her arms burned.

  
  


One.

  
  


An explosion of color and light. The pieces of the fallen puella magi's hopes and dreams.

  
  


And there was Walpurgisnacht.

  
  


It was massive. An upside down hellequin attached to a cog work gear. It sailed unconcerned through the city. A moment of doubt. She had only a thin idea of what Homura could do. Would it be enough?

  
  


Impulse. Kyouko launched herself at the witch. Spear at the ready. She swung the point with all her conviction. It hit something. Her arms shook, the spear rebounded. Kyouko darted away, slashing at the edge of the cog-wheel. Nothing.

  
  


Homura needed her to hurt the massive witch before she attacked. How much longer before she couldn’t wait? Kyouko smashed the witch more. All she did was injure her hands. She felt warmth at her back. She flew aside, an inferno behind her. Kyouko had gotten Walpurgisnacht’s attention. Between the buildings Kyouko raced. Familiars and fire around her. 

  
  


Easy to avoid them both. Neither could follow her practiced maneuvers. Around and under the skyline she lead them. A dance she excelled in. By the time the familiars realized she was long gone they were too far away to matter anymore.

  
  


One more time she threw herself at the fallen hero. Once more she put all her strength into her assault. Once more it meant nothing. She rebounded hard. Her spear out of control. She dropped hard. Desperate to get away again. To think of what to do next. Kyouko slammed into the top of a building far away. It should be safe. It wasn’t.

  
  


Kyouko had only enough time to shove her spear in front before the flames smashed into her. Pain. She felt herself bounce off the mason wall behind her. She couldn't breathe. Her spear fell, her hands strengthless. Tears flooded her eyes. Agony shredded her body. A step, the ground rushed up and hit her face. Pain crushed the world. She knew nothing. She cried on the ground, all her promises laying beside her. Kyouko didn’t know how long she laid there. There was no time nor meaning to her. 

  
  


Someone yelled something, a name? Tears flowed from her eyes. It was louder.  _ Who's Sayaka, I'm Kyouko. _ A hand on her shoulder, she tried forcing her eyes open. It didn’t work.

  
  


"Sayaka?" Madoka asked.

  
  


_ No, I'm not. _

  
  


Madoka pulled her up, careful to keep her steady. Kyouko arms wrapped around her sides. She could feel the grinding of her ribs. Heavy gasps. Fire burned her lungs.

  
  


_ And I never will be. _

  
  


She couldn't be Sayaka anymore than she could save her.

  
  


"Help me, help me to the edge." Madoka almost carried the taller girl to the lip of the building. A too familiar sensation for the both of them. Her spear a cane, Kyouko pushed herself up as much as she could.

  
  


She could never be the crusader. 

 

But she could be herself. 

 

Oblivion before them, death in front and their hope with a broken shell of a girl finally not scared anymore. She leaned into her spear. She could do this once. It had been so easy. It was more than the distance of salvation now.

  
  


Her ribs ached, Madoka's small fingers held her up. How hard was this to see a stranger

pretending to be a long known friends and suffer in her act. Kyouko closed her eyes. She envisioned it. A mimic of herself fighting and slipping through the sky.

  
  


Nothing.

  
  


The wood of her spear groaned. Her knuckles ached. _This is easy. I can do this._

  
  


Nothing

  
  


It hurt, she grabbed her side and squeezed, jet vision went white. She forced herself to remain conscious. This is what penance was, right? Pain for past transgressions.

  
  


Nothing.

  
  


_ I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm a fuck up. I was selfish. I didn't care about anyone but me. I'm sorry. _

  
  


Nothing.

  
  


She cried. Madoka would die. Homura would die. Sayaka's family would lose the last hope

because of her.

  
  


Nothing.

  
  


Her fingers squeezed harder. Kyouko swallowed a sob. _For once please something go right._ Her body shook. She tried to visualize herself dancing through the mass of familiars top strike at the witch. Anything to work. Anything to be what she once was.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The theater witch directed the great work. A masterpiece of cinema and acting. Awards would be had. She circled around, checking each part in turn. Nothing could be out of place.

What's this?! This was not supposed to be there! A blue haired girl stood in the wrong place and the wrong time. A parade of flame and pyrotechnics consumed he errant actor and all was right again.

  
  
  
  
  


 


	4. 4

Homura watched Kyouko be consumed. She had seen the trickster puella magi fall so many times it was merely a note in her endless battle. With a shard of hope clutched to her heart Homura wanted it to be the last. She readied her assault. A month of planning, of building and careful thought for these few moments.

She threw herself forward. A clash of light, a familiar shattered. All Homura could desire for was that Kyouko did enough damage to matter. That the path she walked so much on was different. She drew her pistol to gun down another familiar. She never lined up the shot. A slash and the technicolor shade split in half. Homura lost sight of the apparition. A distant flash. It wasn't the last.

Something different.

Something she'd never seen before.

Was it enough?

Could she win?

 

 

Madoka watched as the battle renewed. Multiple copies of her friend crashed into the witch. A parade of colors and a storm of violence. Madoka held Kyouko as best she could. She felt the agony radiating from her. Kyouko had said nothing. Whatever the puella magi had wanted, it was hers now. Madoka held her, she would wait until Kyouko could fight no more.

Tears streamed from Kyouko's eyes as she crushed her ribs. The pain was the world. There was no Madoka, Homura, herself or even Sayaka in her purgatory. A distant fantasy of her flitting through the sky, a hero she had been until she walked away. A story she once knew by heart. It was too far to believe. Almost to far to watch.

She battled in the sky, a dozen copies of herself fighting against the witch. Phalanxes of spear-points arrayed on a steel and azure plane. She cut down familiars through the green parks and cold buildings. She was consumed in fire and reborn elsewhere. She was struck down and killed in turn. She was many and so were they. Without thought and realization Kyouko was now what she had been once.

Her doppelgangers drove the familiars back. Cutting the shards of despair and grief into nothingness. Wind in her hair. Her delirium allowing her this moment. A past recited in the present. Battles she'd fought in ran through her mind. Re-enacting her stories when she was sure of the world.

It was not without cost.

Her dream ate through her senses. It slowed her. The pain etched itself into Kyouko's mind. It wore down her defenses, devoured her will and crippled her. Doppelgangers fell quicker than they could be replaced. The witch's familiars rallied and counterattacked. Kyouko could not hold forever. The dream cracked at the edges. A flit of goal. Something to be done. Her army surged to the last act. The final battle to cast themselves into.

 

 

Walpurisgnatch screamed at her familiars to do better. The play was almost ready to go and still delinquents infested the stage. They bounced and rampaged around without any sense of decency!

 _Malcontents and delinquents! Philistines and critics!_ The witch fumed. Impotently flinging insults around. Her incompetent assistants continually failed to deal with the blue-haired play-wrecker. Everything had to be in exact place to work. And yet nothing was in place! The stage was not cleared and there was graffiti, and liquids. Her assistants were utterly without use. Then one 'helper' turned around and stabbed her. Owww! Why did you do that! It looked at her dumbly and went back to trying to catch the blue-haired girl. The witch growled. And was stabbed again.

Kyouko pushed her illusions quickly. Chaos all she could force. The familiars lashed out, hitting everything. The clones, each other and Walpurgisnacht. Her focus cracked, her delirium could not hold against this. Flashes of color made each think that they faced their foe only for the witch to impale herself. Madness tore through the battle. She bled. It was harder to focus. The pain dripped through the cracks in her dream.

Kyouko's hand shook. More cracks, more pain. Harder to think. Had to fight. Keep fighting. Fight. Slash. Parry. Move. Attack. Fight. Fight. Fight. Her dream shifted, Kyouko moved it just to keep going. Alterations, transitions, anything to keep the story going. The story changed, existing only for the sake of existing. No longer any rhyme or reason.

Walpurgisnatch lashed out. Her own help battered her. She was badly injured and her commands were swallowed by the aether. _Incompetent fools! Stop hitting me! Do something! NOT THAT!_ They climbed over her, biting stabbing and clawing. Her dignity shredded, the witch tore her familiars off and stamped on them. The play was ruined. The props broken, the stage a wreck. If she couldn't have a play, no one could! The last of her defenses shattered, the witch strode out to destroy.

Her illusions shimmered and faded. Kyouko could keep them no more. With a gasp the story was over. Pain drowned her. Her lungs were crushed. She panted, desperate to breathe. Sounds rushed in. Her vision fractured and split. Her knees failed. Madoka stumbled tying to catch Kyouko. The battle forgotten, the blue-haired puella magi could do no more tonight. More tears. Red lines screamed from her ribs to her brain. She convulsed. Madoka heaved her up and drug her away from the edge.

Her vision titled. Light from behind her. Kyouoko had a snap glance of the sky falling, burning, onto the witch. Madoka shoved her through the door as the world exploded. Footsteps smashed into the concrete. Distant booms raked her ears. The fragments of her ribs ground together. Her sides felt wet. The violence increased. She could barely keep her feet. The building shook. Dust blinded her. Glass rained down. The floor was mud. Madoka carried the girl farther down the structure. A jerk to the right, a door. Darkness. Madoka held Kyouko still as the world trembled.

Rapid breathing. The walls cracked. Explosion. Kyouko's ribs creaked. Something hit the structure. Violence careened in the streets. Light poured in from the under the door.

Silence.

Nothing.

Time passed.

Was it over?

Stillness.

A hand on the door.

Light.

Quiet.

The pain was distant.

No sounds.

Her eyes cleared.

Scraps on the ground.

Shoes trod on debris.

Window.

Nothing.

No storm.

No witch.

No danger.

Walpurgisnacht had fallen. Kyouko breathed quietly. A victory in blood. The puella magi said a silent prayer for her fallen sister. Another she could save. Pieces of the world arranged themselves in her vision. Her vision came into focus. The city was ruined. Buildings shattered, the streets torn up and thrown asunder. The price of triumph. And still someone laughed. She bobbled her head it wasn't Madoka or herself-

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Kyouko screamed as she was jerked and tossed around. The scream echoed off the ruins. Her ribs ground under the pressure.

Agony.

Air ripped by her face. Her arms locked in torment. Razors sliced through her lungs. She could feel the blood in her throat. The force let go and she crashed to the ground. A familiar? A witch? Kyouko pulled her spear and vainly tried to stand. It was Homura. And it wasn't. Homura never smiled and this Homura was doing anything but. And she was laughing. Even Madoka looked at her oddly.

Kyouko wanted to go back to the witch parade, it made more sense.

After a long moment of joy Homura finally spoke.

“I won.” Kyouko wobbled to her feet.

“That's nice,” she said keeping her eyes on the definately crazy girl. “The next time you win something, please leave my ribs out of it.” Homura looked to nothing but nodded anyway. Kyouko tried a step and nearly collapsed. Her borrowed knees locked and her two friends came to her.

“Also, don't make me, ouff, laugh it hurts too much.” Neither said a word, but carried their wounded friend away once more.

Fin


End file.
